Treatment Options after Tooth Extraction

Treatment Options after Tooth Extraction

Having a tooth extracted isn’t the end of the world. As a society we place a lot of weight in keeping our natural teeth for a life time – but that is not always an attainable goal when dental trauma, decay and infection sometimes means a tooth has to be extracted.

NW Calgary General Dentists at Metro Dental in Harvest Hills explain that losing a tooth doesn’t mean you have to lose your smile as there are different treatment options available to restore a mouth to healthy function and beauty. Years ago patients may have accepted their gappy smile and chosen not to replace the missing tooth – or a partial denture was frequently the choice to fill in the gap and restore a patient’s smile. But today a patient has choices that will permanently replace the tooth and provide both an esthetic and functional solution.

A bridge is often a suitable treatment plan used to replace a tooth by crowning adjacent teeth and attaching a false tooth where the natural tooth used to be. An effective method that looks natural and performs well for many years – Dental Bridges are a common procedure used to permanently restore a patient’s smile. Another permanent method for replacing either a single or multiple teeth is a dental implant. An implant can be placed by General Dentists who have received training and by Periodontists and Oral Surgeons (specialists) – and is becoming a popular choice for replacing a tooth without having to involve healthy adjacent teeth.

Placed directly in to the jaw bone – much like the root of a natural tooth – an implant fuses with the jaw bone (osseointegration) to create a stable and permanent anchor for a crown to be attached to after the required healing time. The final crown attaches to the neck of the implant to create a natural looking tooth that not only looks good but is able to function like a natural tooth.